Fiction-GENERAL
Book-Review-Colours-Of-Gold
Colours of Gold
by
Kaye Dobbie
Colours Of Gold flows/reads a lot better than The Lighthouse Keepers which was my previous read by this author. Again Ms. Dobbie has chosen to write in aMsen and now format.
A very young Alice is saved from drowning in a barrel, in the Murray River by River Boat Captain Potter.
Allice has a gift in that she can see an aura of colours around people, all people and the darker they are the more likely there is darkness in that person’s immediate future.
While Alice works at Echuca’s Red Petticoat Hotel, Rosy befriended her. Rosy is one of the girls who ‘entertains’ the local gentleman whenever they call on her.
Rosy and Alice decide to leave Echuca one day planning to head for the gold fields, where Alice hopes to make her fortune digging for gold.
Present-day Annie is an art restorer. She has been asked to restore a painting called Trompe L’oeil which features Alice, Rosy and several other characters from the past. Why is Annie drawn to this painting of the Victorian goldfields? But why does she find it so important to track down the names of people from a hundred years prior?
I found this an entertaining story. I liked the flow of the story and the fact that we had holidayed in Echuca and I had spent ten of my working years with Echuca being my halfway-to-work lunch stop.
I thought
Colours Of Gold
was a
four-star read.
*****
At the time of writing my review
Goodreads readers have rated
Colours Of Gold
an average of 4.24 stars,
from 170 ratings and 20 reviews.
*****
Colours Of Gold
can be purchased online at
Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon
*****
Book-Review-The-Keepers-Of-The-Lighthouse
The Keepers Of The Lighthouse
by
Kaye Dobbie
Kaye Dobbie’s Keepers of The Lighthouse was my second of her books. This book was written in two parts. The first part was set on a fictitious Benevolence Island in 1882 while the second part was set on the same island in 2020. Laura was the Heroine of the 1800s while Nina was the lead character in 2020, with mostly, alternating chapters.
Laura, her father Leo and step-mother Miriam are lighthouse keepers on Benevolence Island, while in 2020 this lighthouse has been closed for some time and the characters are mainly volunteers working for Island Heritage which is intent on preserving the lighthouse, cottages and other buildings.
In 1882, during a Bass Strait storm, a ship is wrecked on Benevolence with only several people having their lives spared. However, both storylines contain romance, villains and twists and turns. The only downside to the story was the abruptness with which both storylines ended. It felt as if I had just read a television movie script.
Stories set close to my childhood home have always intrigued me and although I have never been to any of the Bass Strait Islands, I doubt if I ever want to experience Bass Strait’s infamous weather patterns. Especially, not as depicted in The Keepers of The Lighthouse.
I thought
The Keepers Of The Lighthouse
was a
four-star read.
*****
At the time of writing my review
Goodreads readers have rated
The Keepers Of The Lighthouse
an average of 3.39 stars,
from 153 ratings and 41 reviews.
*****
The Keepers Of The Lighthouse
can be purchased online at
Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon
*****
Book Review-Birds-Of-A-Feather
Birds Of A Feather
by
Tricia Stringer
Birds of a Feather is the story of three strong women from the fictitious town of Wallaby Bay, supposedly located on Spencer’s Gulf in South Australia.
The eldest is Eve, a partner in the Wallaby Bay fishing fleet forever and a day. She is an independent woman who has lived alone since her husband’s death.
It is only since she had surgery on her injured shoulder that she has had guests in the form of a home help nurse and then her God Daughter, Julia, who has a troubled past.
Nurse Lucy has two children and a fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) husband who is a mine worker in Western Australia. I note with surprise that Lucy is described as abrasive. Personally, I thought god-daughter Julia as the abrasive character of the threesome. True, Lucy was stubborn particularly about her job, as any good nurse should be; whereas Julia spoke abrasively about any and everything she felt like.
Narrator, Casey Withoos does a wonderful job of narrating Birds Of A Feather. There were clearly identifiable voices for each character in the story, which in my opinion makes the whole experience more pleasant.
As my home town is a much smaller country town than Wallaby Bay, I find Ms Stringer’s books very relatable. Birds Of A Feather is the author’s fourteenth book and my second of her works.
I rated
Birds Of A Feather
as a
five-star
audiobook
*****
At the time of writing my review
Goodreads readers have rated
Birds Of A Feather
an average of 3.97 stars,
from 784 ratings and 103 reviews.
*****
Birds Of A Feather
can be purchased online at
Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon
Book Review-The-Fallout
The Fallout
by
Rebecca Thornton
*****
The Fallout lost me with the opening, longwinded, WhatsApp conversation between a self-entitled group of women who all belong to the same health club.
In hindsight, it gave the narrator no time whatsoever to establish character voices, not that I think this would have helped as there were other WhatsApp conversations that were read in an identical manner.
That is the narrator read the speaker’s name each and every time she wrote in WhatsApp as in the example below.
Sarah. How are you, Lisa?
Lisa. I’m good. How are you?
Sarah and Lisa are good friends and Sarah offers to watch Lisa’s young boy Jack. Only she doesn’t really. Jack falls from a pole he should not have been climbing and ends up in hospital. After the accident Sarah tells everyone that Jack was okay when she saw him last. However, she does not exactly say when ‘the last time’ was. And there begins the story. Did Sarah lie to her friend…and everyone else?
I’m afraid that was the end for this reader, especially when their menfolk were interviewed and each shoulder shrug and guffaw was read as part of the text. In fact male characters appeared to be more self-entitled than their female counterparts.
It was most definitely goodbye from me at this stage I could not put up with another 34 tracks of this rubbish. If a book does not grab my attention in the first page, it must be the second page. After listening to 25 percent it has had a good chance and not worthy of pursuing.
Although, I must add that the story itself was not as off-putting as the narrators and characters. Perhaps this is one of those books a read/reviewer should actually read.
I rated
The Fallout
as a
one-star audiobook.
One star is a did not finish rating.
***
At the time of writing my review,
other Goodreads readers
have rated
The Fallout
an average of 3.11 stars
from 920 ratings
and 228 reviews
***
The Fallout
can be purchased online at
Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon
****
Book-Review-Shadows-of-Power:Indecent-Ambition
~~~~~~~
Shadows of Power
a.k.a
Indecent Ambition
by
Jennifer Bacia
February 2023
Time for another Jennifer Bacia book I thought. Shadows of Power sounded interesting. However, around halfway through Chapter 1, bells began to ring which was a change from persistent tinnitus.
After a bit of research and I discovered that Shadows of Power was, in fact, the original title of Indecent Ambition, which I had completed around July 2022. For unknown reasons, several of Bacia’s novels have been republished under another title.
Whether Shadows of Power or Indecent Ambition both are worthy of a five-star rating
I rated
Shadows of Power
as a solid
five-star
audiobook
****
As of February 28, 2023,
the overall ratings for
Shadows of Power
are identical to
Indecent Ambition.
***
At the time of writing my review
other Goodreads readers had awarded
Shadows of Power
an average of 3.15 stars
from 27 ratings
and 5 reviews
****
Shadows of Power
can be purchased online at
Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon
*******
July 2022
Indecent Ambition is my third of Jennifer Bacia’s novels and tells Lenore’s story.
After her (sexually) abusive father’s death, fourteen-year-old Lenore was taken in by ‘Nan’ who lived a few doors away. Lenore soon realises she is pregnant with her father’s child and Nan organises an abortion for Lenore.
Sometime later Lenore gives herself to someone a little older than herself, again falling pregnant. When she discovers the boy has left Australia and returned to his mother in the U.S.A. and she has another bad experience with a newborn Lenore swears that never again will she allow men to put her in that position.
Twenty years on Lenore, now known as Anthea, while at a preselection meeting for a safe party seat in the Australian Federal Parliament, meets her old flame again. It takes a while before she accepts a job offer from David and still longer before they get back together. In the midst of all this is Oscar’s (David’s friend) 20-year-old daughter Kelly who has a huge crush on David.
Will Kelly get her way with David? Or will David and Anthea hold fast?
There is a reasonably large part of Indecent Ambition I have not mentioned in my review simply because to do so would contain many spoilers. I am fairly certain that fans of Jennifer Bacia, will rate Indecent Ambition highly and if you haven’t read any of her works as yet, I highly recommend Indecent Ambition and Never Forget me as starting points.
I rated
Indecent Ambition
as a solid
five-star
read
****
At the time of writing my review
other Goodreads readers had awarded
Indecent Ambition
an average of 3.12 stars
from 26 ratings
and 4 reviews
****
Indecent Ambition
can be purchased online at
Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon
I rated
Indecent Ambition
as a solid
five-star read
****
At the time of writing my review
other Goodreads readers had awarded
Indecent Ambition
an average of 3.12 stars
from 26 ratings
and 4 reviews
****
Indecent Ambition
can be purchased online at
Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon
Book-Review-Back-To-The-Country
Back To The Country
by
Mandy Magro
Back To The Country was the eighth of Mandy Magro’s I have read or listened to over the past year or so. Set in far North Queensland’s Kuranda, Back to the Country is an enjoyable romance between Indigo Nash and Harley Knight her bodyguard of two years and lifelong friend. Nash, is an established Country singer, based in America.
With all her good fortune and talent, however, she finds herself disillusioned with her industry which leads to being lonely and depressed. Indy begins to think of her home in Queensland and when news of her father’s death reaches her, Harley convinces her to return to Kuranda for the funeral and some rest and recovery time.
Harley has travelled with his childhood friend for several years and as stubborn as she can be, she also is the one he secretly loves. He only has a few weeks to convince her to stay in Australia. The question is, will that be enough time to show her what she’s missing by constantly running away? Is time to let her go? Or will there be a happy ever after?
Back to the Country is an enjoyable read/audiobook and one which I felt was worthy of a four star rating.
****
At the time of writing my review
other Goodreads readers had awarded
****
Back to the Country
an average of 4.08 stars
from 255 ratings
and 18 reviews.
****
Back to the Country
can be purchased online at
Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon
****
Book Review-A-Chance-of-Stormy-Weather
A Chance of Stormy Weather
by
Tricia Stringer
A Chance of Stormy Weather was my first Tricia Stringer book and hopefully not my last. I loved this yarn as it was something to which I could easily relate. I married a city girl and experienced a mice plague while wool classing in the Riverina Region of New South Wales for ten seasons; waking up one night to a mouse sharing my pillow.
However, not all goes as expected for Paula on the farm. The house she and Dan have moved into is old. One or two rooms have been fixed up; however, this does not deter the mice.
Dan’s auntie, Rowena, a partner on the farm is a kind but domineering personality.
Paula has no interest in the weather yet it still dominates the conversation at all local gatherings. Why?
I loved A Chance of Stormy Weather and could relate to each and every one of Paula’s problems whether it was mice in the house or not knowing her way around.
I have to credit narrator Kate Hosking for her wonderful job of narrating A Chance of Stormy Weather
I rated
A Chance of Stormy Weather
as a
five-star
audiobook
*****
At the time of writing my review
Goodreads readers have rated
A Chance of Stormy Weather
an average of 4.28 stars,
from 428 ratings and 47 reviews.
*****
A Chance of Stormy Weather
can be purchased online at
Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon
Book Review-Say-You-Still-Love-Me
Say You Still Love Me
by
K. A. Tucker
Say You Still Love Me is romance written in a then and now format. Then being a school summer camp where characters meet and now is thirteen years later or present day, if you will.
Piper Calloway is a seventeen-year-old daughter whose family is not at all short of money. She would rather be in Paris with her friends instead of spending the summer as a counsellor at the school camp her mother attended.
Kyle Miller is definitely from the other side of the tracks. Far from being wealthy most of Kyle’s family are in prison for various reasons.
After a wonderful time at camp they promise each other to stay in touch and that is the last time they see each other, for thirteen years. By this time Piper is VP of her father’s company when she sees Kyle in a security guard uniform in her building.
As with all romances there are several complications before life becomes uncomplicated for them. Piper learns the reason why she never heard from Kyle after Summer Camp all those years ago. The biggest question is can she forgive, forget and move forward? And will Kyle be by her side?
As with all of Ms Tucker’s books
that I have so far read,
I thoroughly enjoyed
Say You Still Love Me,
and
I rated
Say You Still Love Me,
as an enjoyable
four-star read.
***
At the time of writing my review
other Goodreads readers have rated
Say You Still Love Me,
At the time of writing my review,
other Goodreads readers have rated
Say You Still Love Me,
an average of 3.84 stars
from 18,010 ratings
and 2,210 reviews.
***
Say You Still Love Me,
can be purchased online at
Booktopia, Fishpond and Amazon
***
Book Review-The-Player-Next-Door
The Player Next Door
by
K. A. Tucker
I first read The Player Next Door in 2020, however, for some unknown reason I did not review it. In a nutshell, The Player Next Door is about Scarlet returning to her hometown only to discover that her high school heart-throb is now her next-door neighbour.
Scarlet Reed returns to Polson Falls, her hometown where, thanks to her mother’s sexual proclivities, she was known as the harlot’s daughter during her youth. She has secured a teaching position at the local school and purchased a fixer-upper to call home. Life looks good until she meets her next-door neighbour, Shane Beckett, the high school star quarterback who broke her heart over a decade ago.
Scarlet makes it abundantly clear that she has not forgotten the pain caused by their teenage breakup.
Shane claims to be a better person now than he was then. Neighbours they may be, but Scarlet wants nothing more than to be Shane’s neighbour. Scarlett vows not to fall for Shane again. However, as she gets to know this version of Shane, she begins to fear that she’s wrong. Perhaps Shane has changed: maybe she should give him a chance. As she allows herself to think these thoughts, Scarlet comes to the conclusion that she should give Shane a second chance; after all, they were good in high school and the only thing he did wrong was to dump her unexpectedly. Perhaps Scarlet is the one playing herself out of a chance at true happiness. And ever so slowly Scarlett and Shane’s friendship grows into something more than a platonic relationship.
This is my second read of The Player Next Door and I have enjoyed it as much as the first time.
I rated
The Player Next Door
as a
Three Star
read.
Other Goodreads readers have rated
The Player Next Door
an average of 3.80 stars
from 12,858 ratings
and 1,372 reviews.
***
The Player Next Door
can be purchased online at
Fishpond, Booktopia, and Amazon
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